Game apparatus



W. MOOLURE.

GAME APPARATUS (No Model.)

No. 485,237. Patented Aug. 26, 1890.

" UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

\VILLIAM MCCLURE, OF PITTSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA.

GAM E APPARATUS.

SPECIFICATION forming; part of Letters Patent No. 435,237, dated August 26, 1890. Application filed December 18, 1889. Serial No. 334,224. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM MoCLURE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Pittsburg, (Hazelwood,) in the county of Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Game Apparatus; and I do hereby declare apparatus; and it consists in a disk provided with an upwardly-extending flange and a series of pockets formed about its periphery, a vertically-placed tube having an inclined exit at its base, and a number of marbles or small balls, as will be fully set forth hereinafter.

In the accompanyingdrawings, Figure 1 is a plan View of my improved apparatus, which is constructed in accordance with my invention. Fig. 2 is a sectional elevation of the same. Fig. 3 is a front elevation of the exit or lower end of the vertical tube. Fig. 4 is a side elevation of the same.

To put my invention into practice I provide a disk at of suitable size and form on its upper surface about its perimeter and at regular intervals a series of pockets b. This disk at is provided with an upwardly-extending flange c to prevent the balls from rolling from the disk. Directly above each of these pockets 1) is a number 6, painted or stamped on the inner surface of the flange c. A tube f is now loosely secured in a vertical position above the center of the disk 01, by means of a suitable frame g, and the said tube f held in the proper position by a collar 1' formed about the same. At the base of the tube f is an inclined opening it, and when a ball is dropped into the tube f the same will be projected toward the I pockets b. 011 the top of the tube and integral therewith is a funnel Z, which will admit the balls more freely into the said tube f.

In operation the problem consists of shoot ing the balls into the pockets by revolving the tube to the desired position, then dropping the ball into the funnel, whereby the balls will be discharged toward one of the pockets and may then rebound toward another. The game may be played either with a certain number of balls or the same number as there are pockets in the disk, and when a ball is pocketed the shooter scores that number of points indicated by the figure immediately above the pocket which it enters.

I am aware that it is not new to provide a game apparatus comprising a Vertical central post, a surrounding casing having a series of spaced vertical passages arranged equidistant around and parallel with the central post, and a single inlet above the apex of the central post and a base having a sesies of pockets, each of which opens into one of the vertical passages of the casing, the base, post, and easing all being rigid with each other.

I am also aware that it is not new to pro vide a game apparatus with an upper stationary runway, a rotary bottom having a.

series of pockets, and vertical wire conduits suspended from the runway and arranged to discharge marbles into the rotary bottom.

My improved apparatus is distinguished from these prior devices in that I employ a single tube, which is rotatably supported in a fixed frame and is arranged immediately over the vertical center of a stationary disk, the upper end of the rotatable tube having a flared mouth and the lower end an inclined exit 7c.

The tube of my apparatus can be readily turned by the operator to direct the marble into either one of a series of pockets, and the apparatus as an entirety is much simpler and cheaper than the prior devices.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, 1s

In a game apparatus, the combination of a disk having a vertical rim or flange and a series of pockets, a vertical support fixed to the disk and provided with an elevated vertical tube or bearing located immediately over the center of the disk, and a vertical hereunto affix my signature this 21st day of tube f, fitted loosely in said hearing or tube November, A. D. 1889. and adapted to rotate freely therein, said turning tube f having a flaring mouth at its WILLIAM MCCLURE' 5 upper end and the inclined exit 70 at its In presence offlower end, as and for the purpose described. 0. D. LEVIS,

In testimony that I claim the foregoing I M. E. HARRISON. 

